"Brom, stopping for repairs doesn't mean everyone has to land - we can just go to K8 like Bob said, Gearhead and Buck land so Gearhead can fix his computer and the rest of us stay in the air keeping guard in case of an attack. That way we'll be no worse of than being in K8 and Buck can get his weapon working again."

"Fair enough. But it's got to be the far north side of k-8, or far south or middle of K-7. I don't want to give these alien scum a chance to escape. It's high time we ended their existence."

"Listen up alpha! Here's the plan.
Buck, you're going behind the ridge at K7. Gearhead will hopefully meet you there. Bob, I'm counting on you to make that happen.

MIles and Vynkor, you're with me. We're going to the south side of k7. Once there, target the first fool to come over that ridge and knock him out of the sky.
Close the distance first if you have to but show no mercy. If they're down before you fire, target the next one.

Bob, I need your cooperation to make this work. Don't let me down."

Fly slightly south of my current position and wait for the enemy.
When an enemy fighter crosses the ridge, get within 1 1/2 kilometers of them and shoot the nearest enemy once with my railgun.
If that enemy was disabled before I could fire, shoot the next one.
After firing, retreat back to K-7

((Hold on, I'm sort of confused now. If you wanted to engage the 3 remaining fighters, wouldn't you want to got north?))

"Fair enough. But it's got to be the far north side of k-8, or far south or middle of K-7. I don't want to give these alien scum a chance to escape. It's high time we ended their existence."

'Funny, Bob think Alien scum almost ended your existence.'
'Bob-squad will be at valley of K8 and nowhere else.'

@Squad:
"Regroup at Valley K8"
"Prepare for bang bang"

Fly over to the valley part of K8
Find cover
Open fire with my laser from as soon as an enemy comes into range.
If an enemy comes close enough for my particle gun to have a decent change to hit, shoot at them with my particle gun.

At any time:
- reposition to keep cover between me and enemies if needed
- Dodge enemy fire

Land in a well-hidden (as much as possible) location and wait for a repairperson to come, let them fix my CASKET up if they want to
Be prepared for the possibility of having to quickly abandon my CASKET (preemptively prepare myself for possibly leaving my CASKET)
Keep an eye out for hostiles at all times, try and track them using my hacking skills if possibleif I notice a fighter coming in to attack me
-Ditch my CASKET and make a run for it, if possible to do immediately
-if I am unable to abandon my CASKET quickly enough
--Try and fly away in my CASKET

"Caleb, Saoirse? I'll focus my fire with bob and call out our target when we aquired one. Are you up to doing the same to another fighter?"

I really hope this works out...

Keep with Bob for now.
Keep an eye out for the enemies and warn people when they approach.
When enemies come in range, call out Bob's target and fire the MFM at it.
Hack another fighter and do the "Set engines to 0%" thing again.
Get into cover.

If seriously hit at any point
-Get into cover
-Bail out of the CASKET
-Search out a proper human-sized hideout to hide in.

Oh FSM, this is going poorly. There's a good reason I never joined the Orbit Guard, and I'm suddenly reminded of it as I fly my hunk of blasted junk around. This thing feels like it's going to fly apart at any minute! And now the CO's are arguing. Wonderful. I decide to stick with them for now, but I have a bad feeling. Then again, I've had a bad feeling since the mission started...

"Roger that, Frank. Saoirse, let's get one of these bastards!"

I stay with Beta Squad and wait with them in cover for the enemies to come into range.
I fire my laser once at the target that Saoirse picks. I attempt evade incoming fire, if the cover won't block it.

"Ayaye Cap'n! Time to do operation "give Lemons life!""
First, I seal my helmet and depressurise the cockpit - no point in having it atmospherised if it's leaking anyway.
I follow the squad to K8 and stick together with Caleb, and get into cover once there.
If enemies come into range, I fire a bubble shot at a weak spot on one of them (if there are multiple, an other one then Bob is shooting)
and tell Caleb which one I'm targetting.
Then I get back into cover.
When shot at, I use my PSI thing to evade.

fly to the meeting point in K8if an enemy comes into view, fire at him with the forceps laser and hack his maneuvering thrustersif shot at do a psi evasion thingland at meeting pointtake repair kit and fix the most critical problem of the landed friendlies

Also half cover: ducking behind any solid, opaque object that you can see over if you stand: +1 defense

Full cover: Looking around room/hallway corners or standing at the corner of a tall solid, opaque object: +2 defense

Out of combat: Leave the room/ lose LoS of the enemy. Complete protection.

In a CASKET, there is only this:

In LoS: You can fire at the enemy, and the enemy can fire at you. Complete lack of potection

Out of LoS: You cannot fire at the enemy, and the enemy cannot fire at you. Complete protection.

Robotic arm firing around cover: Your robotic arm can fire at the enemy. You are well-shielded. This is essentially +2 defense.

At the moment, the only thing any of you can use as "cover" in your CASKETs are the mountain peaks. Therefore, if you ask to use cover, I move you directy behind one of those peaks. If you ask to fire, I move you back out of cover and into plain sight. Some of you seem to realize this and say to get back in cover after firing - but without realizing that the only thing that qualifies as "cover" is going to the other side of that ridge.

"Brom, stopping for repairs doesn't mean everyone has to land - we can just go to K8 like Bob said, Gearhead and Buck land so Gearhead can fix his computer and the rest of us stay in the air keeping guard in case of an attack. That way we'll be no worse of than being in K8 and Buck can get his weapon working again."

"Fair enough. But it's got to be the far north side of k-8, or far south or middle of K-7. I don't want to give these alien scum a chance to escape. It's high time we ended their existence."

"Listen up alpha! Here's the plan.
Buck, you're going behind the ridge at K7. Gearhead will hopefully meet you there. Bob, I'm counting on you to make that happen.

MIles and Vynkor, you're with me. We're going to the south side of k7. Once there, target the first fool to come over that ridge and knock him out of the sky.
Close the distance first if you have to but show no mercy. If they're down before you fire, target the next one.

Bob, I need your cooperation to make this work. Don't let me down."

Fly slightly south of my current position and wait for the enemy.
When an enemy fighter crosses the ridge, get within 1 1/2 kilometers of them and shoot the nearest enemy once with my railgun.
If that enemy was disabled before I could fire, shoot the next one.
After firing, begin my retreat back to K-8

CHAPTER FIVE
In Which You Give A Comprehensive Set Of Instructions To Your Platoonmates And Everyone Proceeds to Ignore youJust Like In The Other Chapters

After giving a comprehensive set of instructions to your squadmates, you get ready to execute your plans.

Everything goes off without a hitch until the enemies show up. It's at this point that you realize that Vynkor is nowhere to be seen, Beta never showed up, Lemons is still MIA, Miles is sitting way out in the open, you're essentially fighting three enemies solo, and the only person that shows any signs of intelligence is Buck - the drunk guy. Somewhat disoriented by this (somehow unexpected?) turn of events, your railgun shot misses entirely, assuaged only by the fact that Miles somehow managed to hit one of the enemies fairly severely with his laser - right before getting pummeled by the other enemies as they pass him. You decide it's time to retreat and make the decision to try to lead them into the ambush that Beta has, for some reason, decided to lay. This is a very good decision, as two of the hiltorel fighters proceed to follow you. As soon as they're beyond the southern ridge, Beta opens fire and proceeds to wipe out both of the attackers with extreme prejudice. You're exceedingly lucky you managed to escape unharmed.

Something needs to change, you realize. The mission is doomed if no one recognizes your greatness and ability. They ought to be practically worshiping you by now. This cannot stand.

"Name's Vynkor. Combat engineer. Railgun and repair pack on the ship. lasgun, assault rifle, and first aid on foot." I look at the ships. "Where are the hostiles?" Considering that nobody's shooting and our position, they're probably to the north. I head for a convenient object which can shield me from the northwest and point northwest once behind it. I then rise slightly to give my gun a clear line of sight to the top of the ridge.

((Edited to take Brom's words into account.))

Thinking ahead, you leave the rest of your new group and head toward the southern ridge of mountains. One of the peaks, you think, could conveniently shield you from incoming fire. After you get there, you sit and start to wait for... whatever's going to happen.

It doesn't take long for things to start happening. Three fighters fly over the northern ridges, attack Miles and Brom, and then split up. Two of them chase Brom, and one stays focused on Miles. Interesting, all very interesting. You watch these interesting events with great interest - the kind of interest only an interesting person would show an interest in. It's interesting, really - with interest.

Really, this is all meant to draw attention away from the fact that you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs while your allies come under fire. Fortunately, it all ends well, mostly. Miles will probably die, but that's probably okay. You didn't get the opportunity to really get attached to him anyway.

Once there,
target the first hostile to come over the ridge and shoot him out of the sky with laser.
Get closer if need be, but show no mercy. Unless he offers chicken ice cream burritos.

If the hostile is down before I open fire,
target the next hostile.

Brom gives the orders, and you nod obediently. "Okie dokie, Brom," you say, following him to the front of the southernmost ridges in the area. You'll hover in front of them and fire as the enemy approaches. It seems like a solid plan.

As soon as the enemies come over the ridge - three of them, in a V formation - you open fire with your laser, showing no frickin' mercy. You manage to seriously damage one of them with extreme prejudice, for there was no chicken ice cream burrito proffered in the allotted time span. Something goes wonky with the thrusters and it seems to have a bit of trouble recovering. It even drops back behind the others, which take potshots at you - one of them hits you with a jolt, damaging something out of your line of sight, and a laser from the other hits you on the underside. You do your best to dodge, but you weren't exactly prepared for something like this happening. In fact, you aren't entirely sure what to do at this point.

The first two squidships fly past, chasing Brom, and the third ship - the one you damaged, levels out and regains control, focusing on you. It seems you've managed to piss them off. You pat yourself on the back encouragingly.

Fly around the ridge, away from the colony, on the opposite side.of the pass from it, to K7.

Land next to where Buck is hovering.

"Lemons Kaput. Casket broke both wheels."

Still wondering how you survived, you fly south around the ridge. Far away, out the right side of your canopy, you can just barely make out the shape of the Nemesis through the dusty atmosphere, brightly lit by the Nanyejian sun. You turn eastward, away from it, and accelerate to top speed.

~~~

It's a long flight, but eventually you manage to group up with Beta. Buck has already landed, and someone else has landed next to him and is working on their computer. You set your ship down beside both of them and hope for repairs. You're lucky to be alive, honestly. You're not sure whether you want your ship fixed, but if it doesn't get fixed, you're fine with that. You'll just hitchhike or something.

As Gearhead pulls his head out of the interior of Buck's CASKET's inner workings, you give him a wave, motioning him over. Where's the service? Repair people oughta fix things! He's repair people, so where's the fix?

It's possibly worth noting you've arrived after absolutely everything has happened of note, and you missed all of it.

Land in a well-hidden (as much as possible) location and wait for a repairperson to come, let them fix my CASKET up if they want to
Be prepared for the possibility of having to quickly abandon my CASKET (preemptively prepare myself for possibly leaving my CASKET)
Keep an eye out for hostiles at all times, try and track them using my hacking skills if possibleif I notice a fighter coming in to attack me
-Ditch my CASKET and make a run for it, if possible to do immediately
-if I am unable to abandon my CASKET quickly enough
--Try and fly away in my CASKET

((I have a bad feeling about this. How tall are these ridges?))

((People said you wanted to fly south. I don't know if this is true, but I'm rolling with it. It's the only way I see to make sense of everyone's actions.))
You turn around and fly south, over the ridge, away from the approaching enemies. Behind you, Alpha holds off the enemies long enough for you to escape - which you absolutely do. After you cross the southern mountain chain, you fly down and land near their base on the sloping valley floor, near what seems like it might've once been a river bed. Gearhead shows up not too much longer after, and after firing a potshot at the enemy, settles down next to you, gets out, retrieves his repair kit, and gets to work.

Everything turns out totally fine. You get power back to your MFM! ...your CASKET's OS remains mysteriously offline, however. You're not sure of the cause, and you'll probably have to ask Gearhead. You're sure it's probably nothing serious. You weren't hit that bad, surely. It was only a mild jolt, after all.

Squad Beta:Everyone
Beta flies to the grid square marked K-8 on the map. By the time they arrive, Alpha has already re-engaged the enemy north of the ridges, and Buck has already landed in the valley below. Alpha is terribly uncoordinated and clearly unsuited for this kind of work: Vynkor takes cover and hides behind the ridge, Miles refuses to abandon his post, and Lemons is nowhere to be seen. The only person that really does anything exhibiting intelligence (as even Bob can see) is Brom, who fires a shot at the enemy and then flies south over the ridges - to you and the rest of your squad. Two enemies give chase and pursue him.

"Fair enough. But it's got to be the far north side of k-8, or far south or middle of K-7. I don't want to give these alien scum a chance to escape. It's high time we ended their existence."

'Funny, Bob think Alien scum almost ended your existence.'
'Bob-squad will be at valley of K8 and no where else.'

@Squad:
"Regroup at Valley K8"
"Prepare for bang bang"

Fly over to the valley part of K8
Find cover
Open fire with my laser from as soon as an enemy comes into range.
If an enemy comes close enough for my particle gun to have a decent change to hit, shoot at them with my particle gun.

At any time:
- reposition to keep cover between me and enemies if needed
- Dodge enemy fire

Hidden behind the northern ridges, you wait until the enemies come into view. Frank hovers next to you, engines humming. You glance over at him through the glass - he gives you a thumbs-up. You then sit and wait - but not for long: two enemies soon chase Brom over the peaks, and you immediately open fire on one of them with your laser - which goes tremendously well, locking the fighter's turret-pod down and keeping it from turning. You immediately open fire again with your particle gun, but this time they're prepared, and fly off in a wide arc - but Frank takes care of the target soon after with his microwave field emitter: smoking, it tumbles lifelessly from the sky, engines still running, and crashes into the ground. Meanwhile, Caleb and Saoirse have taken down their target as well. Apart from the one still threatening Miles, you're in the clear.

"Caleb, Saoirse? I'll focus my fire with bob and call out our target when we aquired one. Are you up to doing the same to another fighter?"

I really hope this works out...

Keep with Bob for now.
Keep an eye out for the enemies and warn people when they approach.
When enemies come in range, call out Bob's target and fire the MFM at it.
Hack another fighter and do the "Set engines to 0%" thing again.
Get into cover.

If seriously hit at any point
-Get into cover
-Bail out of the CASKET
-Search out a proper human-sized hideout to hide in.

You stick close to Bob, giving him a thumbs-up to show that you're with him. Your CASKET hovers side by side, and you sit and wait, but not for long: two enemies soon chase Brom over the peaks above, and you immediately start calculating their trajectory and appropriate formulas for your MFM. Meanwhile, Bob manages to stick the guy with his laser, keeping him from firing further shots at you - this gives you just enough time to finish up your calculations and fire.

It's a perfect shot. The invisible field generated by your MFM causes the air to waver around the fighter - especially the cockpit; you suspect you managed to fry the fighter directly. The engines, while smoking, continue running, and the ship tumbles in a lifeless arc toward the ground. Meanwhile, Caleb and Saoirse have taken down their target as well. Apart from the one threatening Miles, you're in the clear.

Oh FSM, this is going poorly. There's a good reason I never joined the Orbit Guard, and I'm suddenly reminded of it as I fly my hunk of blasted junk around. This thing feels like it's going to fly apart at any minute! And now the CO's are arguing. Wonderful. I decide to stick with them for now, but I have a bad feeling. Then again, I've had a bad feeling since the mission started...

"Roger that, Frank. Saoirse, let's get one of these bastards!"

I stay with Beta Squad and wait with them in cover for the enemies to come into range.
I fire my laser once at the target that Saoirse picks. I attempt evade incoming fire, if the cover won't block it.

Following Bob and Frank's lead, you and Saoirse group up close to each other behind the steep, chaotic mountainside, ready for the enemies to appear. As soon as they do - chasing Brom, as it seems - you open fire with your laser on the nearest and call out your target. By some extreme stroke of luck (or skill), you manage to land a sustained laser strike directly on the ship's cockpit, killing the main pilot. The hiltorel ship fumbles for a moment before the secondary pilot takes over. Coming back around, he fires a series of plasma shots at you - most of which hit the front of your CASKET before trying to flee for his life, having clearly realized he'd been led into an ambush.

He doesn't make it far. Saoirse manages to get him to fly directly into a stream of bubbles from her Bubble Blower, causing the front of the squid's ship to instantly deteriorate, ripping itself apart. More parts follow, tumbling away from the ship, and without further warning, the entire craft explodes in a double fireball.

It looks like you're in the clear - unless you count the enemy still threatening Miles. Your ship essentially cannot dodge at this point, though, from what you can tell. Even turning is difficult and tedious. You're lucky none of them hit the underside of the ship, or you'd be grounded.

((Your maneuvering thrusters are now in critical condition. Be wary.))

"Ayaye Cap'n! Time to do operation "give Lemons life!""
First, I seal my helmet and depressurise the cockpit - no point in having it atmospherised if it's leaking anyway.
I follow the squad to K8 and stick together with Caleb, and get into cover once there.
If enemies come into range, I fire a bubble shot at a weak spot on one of them (if there are multiple, an other one then Bob is shooting)
and tell Caleb which one I'm targetting.
Then I get back into cover.
When shot at, I use my PSI thing to evade.

Following Bob and Frank's lead, you and Caleb group up close to each other behind the steep, chaotic mountainside, ready for the enemies to appear. As soon as they do - chasing Brom, as it seems - you open fire with your bubble blower on the target. By some extreme stroke of luck Caleb manages to kill the primary pilot, but the secondary pilot takes over and returns fire, severely damaging Caleb's ship. Then, seeming to realize he's been led into an ambush, he turns to leave - and flies directly through the little area you've carefully positioned your bubbles. Your displays report that you've landed a direct hit, but you don't even really have to look at them: you see the hiltorel ship begin to crumble as it tries to escape at high speeds, parts peeling away, one after the next - and without warning, the whole ship explodes in a fireball.

It looks like you're in the clear - unless you count the enemy still threatening Miles. Hopefully you'll have some time to regroup, and possibly re-sort the squads. At least one of the people in Alpha seems completely incompetent.

fly to the meeting point in K8if an enemy comes into view, fire at him with the forceps laser and hack his maneuvering thrustersif shot at do a psi evasion thingland at meeting pointtake repair kit and fix the most critical problem of the landed friendlies

While everyone else hides behind the mountainside, you figure that it won't matter: by the time the enemy gets over the mountain, you'll all be in view anyway. As such, you maneuver over toward where Buck is and prepare to land. When the two hiltorel ships fly over the northern ridges, you, like clockwork, fire on one of them with your forceps laser for good measure, and then land next to Buck's ship, equalizing pressure in your cockpit and ejecting the repair kit. After everything is ready, you leave your ship running, open the canopy, and get out.

It isn't long before you're hard at work repairing Buck's computer so he can fire again - or trying to. A lot of the components have shaken loose. The whole thing was crappily welded together. You're shocked they're even letting you fly these garbage heaps. In addition, you've discovered interesting things like:

Frankly, it's horrific. You feel inclined to spew some choice words, but aren't entirely sure whether you ought to alarm Buck with something like, "Yeah, you're gonna die in this rust bucket, so long kid". Somehow it doesn't seem entirely tactful. You manage to get his computer mostly hooked back up - at least, to his MFM, you think. Getting his OS running again will require replacement parts, most likely.

As you pull your head out of the innards of this veritable death trap, you see Lemons land beside you - and his ship is in worse shape by far. He waves you over, like he expects you to fix his ship too. Moron. At least Buck's problems weren't his fault. You can't say the same for Lemons.

I come out from behind the ridge and, aiming carefully, fire one shot at the remaining fighter.
If this does not result in a kill:
-I attempt to draw the fighter's aggro.
-If the fighter is now targeting me:
–I try to lure the fighter back towards the rest of the squad.
If the fighter is killed on that shot:
-I find a particularly damaged ally and land with them to start repairs. Probably Caleb or Miles, since they're hurt badly and have guns. If neither cooperate, I settle for Lemons since he's already landed.

"Thanks for your assistance, Bob. I'm sure most of the squad would have died due to flying into stray bullets without Betas help.
It really seems to me that the air squad is missing the "air" part. Which reminds me, I have another favor to ask...
Our own Lemons somehow forgot to bring a ship weapon when he joined the squad, so he's pretty much useless when it comes to aerial combat.
So far, the best he's managed to do is act as a temporary decoy, and that almost got him killed.
We need air weapons to survive, but he is geared towards ground combat. He simply isn't doing us any good.
For this reason, I'd like to ask that Alpha and Beta do an exchange of members. Lemons can go to your squad where he can actually be of some use, and we'll take one of your members who is better suited to aerial combat. Frank looks like a good choice provided he's willing to join up with us.
We'll both get something out this deal. You'll get a well-trained soldier for when you land, and we'll get someone that can actually fight in aerial battles.
What do you say, Bob?"